


A Thousand Words

by Thistlerose



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-26
Updated: 2011-05-26
Packaged: 2017-10-19 19:47:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/204563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thistlerose/pseuds/Thistlerose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While enjoying some down time in Georgia, Jim finds an album full of pictures of 19 year-old Leonard McCoy. He's enchanted, Bones not so much.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Thousand Words

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Canis_takahari](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Canis_takahari).



Leonard steps out of the steam-filled bathroom with his hair dripping wet, a fluffy yellow towel wrapped around his waist, and a smaller towel slung across his shoulders. He looks over at Jim, who’s on his belly on the bed, bare feet in the air and ankles crossed. He has his chin cupped in his hand and he seems pretty focused on the large book that’s open in front of him.

“Whatcha got there, kid?” Leonard asks, unwinding the smaller towel from his shoulders and rubbing it over his hair.

“Just an old album,” Jim says with shrug. “Your mom brought it over, along with a peach cobbler. I think she likes me.”

“You think everyone likes you. What’s in the album? More holos of Joanna?”

“Nope.” Jim turns his head and smiles sweetly, and warning gongs start going off in Leonard’s head. “Old holos of _you._ From high school and college, I’m guessing. And, Bones,” he continues, climbing to his knees and taking the album with him, “may I just say … you were _adorable._ ”

Leonard lowers his arms slowly. “Jim…”

“I mean, _look_ at you.” Jim gazes fondly down at the album. “What are you here, eighteen? Nineteen? My god, Bones, you were so gangly. Coltish, that’s the word. Look at your face, all smooth and pink. Look at your hair. It was so floppy! So sweet and innocent - like strawberry ice cream. What the hell happened? When did you go sour?”

Leonard drops the towel and makes a grab for the album, but Jim clutches it to his chest, scooting backward. “Damn it, Jim--”

“Your eyelashes, Bones! Your fucking eyelashes. And your freckles.” He’s bouncing up and down on the bed. “I bet you stole so many hearts. You’d definitely have stolen mine.”

Leonard looks at him warily. He seems sincere, though that does not alleviate the feeling Leonard has that he’s about to stumble into a snare. He remembers his late teens and adorable is not the word he would have used to describe himself back then. He was an awkward teenager, painfully aware of the fact that he was both younger and taller than most of the other boys in his class, and it wasn’t until he was about nineteen that he started to feel comfortable with his looks. Scowling, he asks, “Really?”

Jim goes still. “Cross my heart. Of course,” he says, lifting the album away from his chest and peering down at it, “you filled out nicely.”

“I’ll fill _you_ out nicely,” Leonard growls. Then he pounces.

Jim gives a squawk as he tries to scramble out of the way, but this time he isn’t fast enough. Leonard grabs his wrists and pushes him down, climbing on top of him and pinning him to the bed, with the photo album trapped between them. The towel around his waist comes loose - oh, well.

“Seriously, Bones,” Jim says, his breath warm and shaky against Leonard’s lips. “I’d’ve been all over you in college.”

“I started college when I was sixteen, Jim. You’d’ve been ten.”

“Even so.” Jim wiggles his hips and Leonard hisses because, damn, he’s already getting hard. _Not_ because of the image of Jim at ten, thank you, but because they’re alone finally, and the late afternoon sunlight that’s streaming through the open window is warming Leonard’s bare shoulders and turning Jim’s hair to pure gold, and because they’re in bed and there’s nothing between them but a towel and Jim’s cotton pajama bottoms. And the damn album.

Leonard lets go of one of Jim’s wrists so he can knock the album aside. Jim seizes the opportunity to slide his fingers into Leonard’s wet hair and pull him down into a kiss.

They make out lazily, tongues curling together, palms skimming over heated skin, fingers kneading, squeezing. There’s no need for urgency. They’re not on the _Enterprise_. They’re not in danger. Neither one of them is going anywhere. So they take their time and by the time they’re ready for a short breather, the angle of sunlight has changed, Leonard’s towel is gone, and Jim’s pajama bottoms are tangled around his knees. The air around them is thick and still, heavy with the scent of magnolias and freshly cut grass. A fine sheen of sweat covers them.

“Okay, maybe not at ten,” Jim pants, grinning up at Leonard and tucking a lock of hair behind his ear. His cheeks are flushed and the corners of his eyes crinkle. “But if I ever go back in time to when you were in college, I’m definitely fucking you. Wait.” He narrows his eyes. “I haven’t already done it, have I? I mean, future me never fucked past you, right? You’d’ve told me, right?”

Leonard bites his lip. He isn’t going to say that if anyone as handsome and self-assured as twenty-five year-old James Tiberius Kirk had approached him while he was in college, he’d probably have tripped over his own damn tongue and run away. It wasn’t really until the summer after graduation that he started to feel the confidence he displays now. So he just stares at Jim in wonder for a moment or two, then snorts a laugh and shakes his head. “Idiot.” He kisses Jim’s ear. “Guess you’ll just have to wait and find out, won’t you?”

Jim pouts. He bats his own extremely attractive eyelashes.

“Sorry, kid. You’ll have to make do with your fantasies in the meantime.”

Jim pretends to sulk for half a minute more. Then his smile returns and he touches Leonard’s hip. “Nah, it’s okay. Keep your dirty secrets. I’ll find out sooner or later. Meantime, I have present you.” He strokes his fingers up Leonard’s side, trailing shivers and eliciting a groan. He stops at Leonard’s nipple, which he teases in thoughtful silence before saying, “I can’t say conclusively - not without conducting a few experiments - but I think I prefer present you.”

There’s nothing Leonard can do but kiss him again.

5/24/2011


End file.
